1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to refrigerator cabinets and, more particularly, to an adjustable base cover therefor.
2. Description of Background Art
A refrigeration apparatus, such as a refrigerator/freezer, conventionally includes a cabinet having a storage compartment and a door for the compartment. Refrigerators are intended to be free standing and to rest on a floor or other flat surface. Specifically, the cabinet has a base support assembly which provides a compartment below the storage compartment for housing various machine components. Adjustable leveling legs are typically fastened to the base assembly for adjusting the vertical spacing of the cabinet from the floor to compensate for an uneven or non-level floor.
The need for adjusting the floor to cabinet spacing is of particular importance when the cabinet comprises a built-in refrigerator cabinet. With such a built-in refrigerator cabinet, the unit is typically flush mounted with adjacent cabinets and must suitably fill in the space provided therefor. To do so, it may be necessary to adjust the height of the top of the cabinet so that it is spaced a desirable distance from superjacent cabinets or other structure. Such adjustment is accomplished by suitably adjusting all of the leveling legs an equal amount, assuming the cabinet is otherwise level.
Thus, the amount of adjustment required of each leveling leg depends on variations found in kitchen construction, such as the level of the floor on which it is resting, and also desired alignment with adjacent cabinets, including alignment with adjacent cabinet toe space. Such varying conditions cause the space between the floor and the bottom of the door to vary from one installation to another.
Most refrigerator cabinets include a base grill or cover to cover the space between the door and the floor and to restrict access to the machine compartment. One example of such a base grill is shown in Hoetker U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,349. Such a conventional base cover is normally sized to the minimum height which can be expected between the floor and the bottom of the door. However, when the height of the cabinet is adjusted to its maximum, the base cover cannot fully cover the opening into the machine compartment, or an undesirably large gap results between the lowermost portion of the base cover, or the cabinet frame, and the floor.
The present invention is intended to overcome one or more of the problems as set forth above, in a novel and simple manner.